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Caden McCloughan

NFC Front Office Updates: Panthers, Falcons, Cardinals

June 29th, 2024 at 6:00pm CST by Ely Allen

The Panthers are one of several NFC teams who continue to make updates to their front office staff in recent days. Carolina made two moves and two new hires in this month.

The first move sees area scout Caden McCloughan move from the west coast to the southwest, per Neil Stratton of SucceedinFootball.com. He’s in his third year with the team since joining as a scouting intern in 2022. Joining McCloughan as an area scout is Kaleb Leach, who is getting promoted to northeast area scout for Carolina after also joining the team in 2022. Leach started as a scouting assistant after both playing and scouting in international football.

The two new hires are pro scout Adam Maxie and scouting assistant Gabby Weinrich. Maxie has NFL experience dating back t0 2017. He’s worked as a quality control coach with the Buccaneers, a scouting intern with the Vikings, and a pro scout with the Raiders. Weinrich takes Leach’s old position as scouting assistant. She attended scout school with the Jets in 2022 and worked as a training camp intern with the Bears the following year, all while working as a player personnel and recruiting assistant for the University of Nebraska. This will be her first full-time position in the NFL.

Here are a few other front office updates from around the NFC, starting with another NFC South squad:

  • The Falcons have promoted Nathan Ellis from scouting assistant to scouting coordinator, per Stratton. Previously a pro scouting intern for the Chargers for two summers, Ellis joined Atlanta as a scouting intern last summer, turning that time into a full-time gig at the start of the season. His previous full-time job was as a recruiting assistant/coordinator with the University of South Carolina.
  • The Cardinals made a number of moves to their scouting staff, as well, per Stratton. Chad Jenkins has been moved from NFS scout to area scout. Jenkins has been with the team since 2018 after some time at Tulane and Tennessee State. Stephen Wise will take Jenkins’ NFS scout role, moving from his role as a scouting assistant. Wise joined the team in 2021 after three years as a football recruiting assistant at South Carolina where he overlapped with Ellis for a few months. Andrew Ford will also get promoted from scouting assistant. Formerly a quarterback at UMass, he’ll now work as a pro scout for Arizona. Landon Grier has been hired to fill one of the two newly vacated scouting assistant roles. This will be Grier’s first job out of college after graduating from South Carolina.

NFL Front Office Rumors: Bears, Panthers, Falcons, Titans, Cowboys

June 9th, 2023 at 9:44pm CST by Ely Allen

A number of teams have made some recent adjustments to their front office staff. The Bears are one of those teams, making adjustments to both their scouting and analytics staffs, according to Courtney Cronin of ESPN.

On the scouting side, Chicago named Drew Raucina as an area scout and Ryan Weese as a combine scout. Raucina was previously the team’s combine scout. He’s been with the Bears since 2018, starting as a scouting assistant and working his way up. Weese moves into the newly open combine scout role after joining the staff last year as a scouting assistant. Before coming to Chicago, Weese held a role at Montana State.

In analytics, the Bears announced Ryan Hubley as a football research analyst. Hubley joined the team last year as a football systems developer working under director of football analytics Krithi Chandrakasan. It sounds like he’ll remain in that department in an adjusted role.

Here are a few other front office changes from around the league:

  • The Panthers are another one of the above-mentioned teams, making several adjustments to their scouting staff, according to Panthers staff writer Darin Gantt. After coming to Carolina two years ago from Washington as the new director of college scouting, Cole Spencer has been promoted to director of player personnel, where he’ll work alongside recently hired vice president of player personnel Adrian Wilson, who will focus on pro scouting while Spencer retains his focus on college scouting. Former assistant director of college scouting Jared Kirksey will fill Spencer’s old role as college scouting director. Kirksey joined the team in 2021 as an area scout. Formerly the Southwest scout, Eli Montague will now cover the Southeast area, with Corey Fuller moving from the West area to cover the Southwest. Scouting intern Caden McCloughan and scouting assistant Jordan Trgovac have been promoted to area scouts, and former safety Juston Burris will be a scouting intern for the team this year. McCloughan will cover the West and Trgovac the Mid-Atlantic.
  • Two Falcons scouts will be changing roles this year, according to Neil Stratton of SucceedinFootball.com. Former player personnel coordinator Rushell Harvey will now serve as the team’s Northeast area scout. Additionally, Ben Martinez, who has worked as a scout for the BLESTO service, will now be a pro scout for Atlanta. Both joined the Falcons in 2021. Lastly, Stratton also informs us that the team has parted ways with Peniel Jean, Atlanta’s former pro scout. Jean joined the team in 2017 and had served his most recent role for four years.
  • The Titans will have a new name atop their analytics department after hiring Sarah Bailey as director of football research and development. Bailey comes over from Los Angeles, where she started in 2017 as a football analyst for the Rams before being promoted to manager – football analytics in 2020.
  • Lastly, the Cowboys have added a new name to their front office, as well. After serving as director of football research for the Colts since 2016, John Park heads to Dallas to serve as director of strategic football operations, according to ESPN’s Seth Walder.